Wearing Someone Else's Idea of Culture
When I first moved abroad, I was in my 20s and moving to Egypt. All I had read about business attire before I left home was that I would need to wear longish, full skirts and long sleeves.* I arrived there looking like a cross between Eleanor Roosevelt and Mary Poppins – nothing like what I would normally choose. Until I managed to purchase enough things that let me feel like my normal self, I felt like an imposter – like I was wearing a costume of the person I believed others expected me to be. This story is only about clothing. Imagine if we did the same thing with our work persona. What are the implications of “putting on” the behaviors we think are expected at the expense of being our authentic selves? When we move to a new country, it’s tempting to read “doing business in Country X,” and follow the tips, but to build real trust with our colleagues we need to be exactly who we are.
It is important to be mindful of local culture so you do not offend the people you work with. Most of the things that you would be expected to do differently, however, are surface behaviors: handshakes, greetings, food, and dress. Some habits, like using profanity or not handing people things with your left hand may be harder to change, but they are still on the surface. No one expects an expat to “blend in.” You may have been assigned to this job because you will bring the approach or methods of doing business from your home country. And, unless you move somewhere culturally similar to where you are from and spend years there, you are unlikely to ever “blend in.” Your organization may have wanted an outside perspective, but they probably don’t want your colleagues to change their behavior to be like you. So, how do you find the balance between adjusting to a new culture and being yourself?
In some respects, how much you adapt to what others are doing and how much they should adapt to you will depend on your role. For example, if you have been hired as a compliance officer and your team reports to a headquarters in Germany, your colleagues will be changing their behavior to match the corporate culture and you are expected to bring that with you. If you’ve been hired as a graphic designer for a publisher, you will bring your outside perspective to your design work, but aside from providing equipment and inputs in a timeframe that meets your needs, your colleagues will not be expected to change their methods to accommodate you. Rather, you may need to adapt more to their processes. As soon as possible, you need to clearly define your role and the expectations associated with it. This “role definition” conversation will happen several times starting with your boss and with your colleagues to make sure you all have the priorities and expectations about timing and quality of inputs and work product. Once that is established, you can set expectations with staff reporting to you, so you are all working to meet the same expectations.
Once your role is established, think a bit about the culture you’re coming from and the one you’re coming to. If you come from a culture where direct communication is expected and appreciated, it might be a shock to colleagues in a culture where any constructive feedback is normally given in a more circumspect way. If you are used to being completely transparent in terms of your schedule and work product, that’s probably ok, but you may not be able to expect the same from your colleagues unless you work that out together. If you are from a culture where you are expected to check in at each step of a project, your supervisor may become annoyed if you are working in a place where more independence is expected. If you don’t know what your colleagues expect, ask. People expect a new person to ask questions, and the office will have its own culture that you can only know by asking someone who works there.
To start with a firm foundation, you will want to have a conversation with your supervisor and each of your colleagues and employees to find out how they like to communicate, how they like to give and receive feedback, how often they like to check on progress, and what their priorities are. During these conversations, you will find out a lot about both the personal preferences and some of the cultural differences you will see in the office. You will also be able to let them know your preferred style of working and establish a mutually agreed way forward. Defining your role and setting expectations around communication and feedback will go a long way toward establishing trust with your team. This is especially true when you consistently meet expectations in performing your defined role and, most importantly, continue to be yourself.
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*It turns out, I could have worn regular international business attire without a problem. Today, I googled business attire for women in Egypt and found “Women should dress modestly, wearing long sleeves. Skirts should be of a reasonable length (not too short).” This may be the same sentence I read in print in 1990. I couldn’t find a picture from work, but here’s a sample of what I brought with me. Yikes!